Faraway students donate toys to hurricane kids

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Two young New Jersey students who were saddened by the news coverage of hurricane Katrina victims decided to do something for the kids who had lost everything.

The duo created "Operation Kid Comfort" and set a goal to collect 5,000 stuffed animals and toys for the displaced children. But when everything was said and done, the small New Jersey community of Barnegat had raised more than 18,000 toys.

It took the high school's entire football team to load a truck that headed toward Houston last week with the donated items.

A representative from the New Jersey-based Toms River Volunteer Fire Company I called Tomball Volunteer Fire Department Chief Randall Parr to ask if they could use the toys here.

"I get this phone call from someone with a heavy New Jersey accent, and he said, 'Chief - I've got a lot of stuff to donate to you,'" Parr said. "I guess they looked us up through a Web site. I told them, 'Go ahead and send it down - we'll pass it on to one of our charities.'"

Last Wednesday, the truckload of toys arrived in Tomball and Parr helped the truck get to its destination in Houston to be donated to the Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program.

"A lot of these toys will end up in the hands of hurricane victims, we've got so many new residents here in Houston that won't be back there (Louisiana) by Christmas," Parr said. "The Marines have a much better distribution center than we could offer."

After hearing about the New Jersey toy drive, Ford Motor Co. offered to donate trucks to help ship the toys. The toys are now in the hands of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines Reserve Center on Old Spanish Trail Drive in Houston. The Houston branch of the Salvation Army will help determine eligibility for the Toys for Tots program.

"I have to assume that the Salvation Army has a process to identify hurricane victims since the Salvation Army is working so closely with FEMA and state agencies to provide much needed assistance," Houston Chapter Director of 1st Marine Division Association Jerry Reed said. "If this is the case, as I believe it to be, then the toys donated by the good people of New Jersey will go to the victims of the two devastating hurricanes."

Hurricane victims can contact the Salvation Army at 713-752-0677, to see if they're eligible for the Toys for Tots program.

In New Jersey, Brackman Middle School student Kaitlin O'Connor, 13, started "Operation Kid Comfort" with her friend, Barnegat High School freshman Aimee Maloney. The 18,000 toys raised by the small New Jersey community filled 400 boxes.

"We don't really want to see another stuffed animal for a while," O'Connor told the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey.